Untangling the Syria proposals with Musa al-Gharbi

President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Scott Pelley, anchor of CBS’s "Evening News" to discuss Syria, in the Blue Room of the White House, Sept. 9, 2013.

Photo credit: official White House photo by Pete Souza.

President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Scott Pelley, anchor of CBS’s "Evening News" to discuss Syria, in the Blue Room of the White House, Sept. 9, 2013.

By Rob Sachs

WASHINGTON (VOR)— There's been a lot of movement in the efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria. First, an offhand proposal by Secretary of State Kerry to have Syria rid itself of chemical weapons is blossoming into a formal proposal from Syria, with Russian support and approval from Britain, Germany, and others.

But now excitement over a practical breakthrough seems to have receded, after problems getting a French proposal through the UN Security Council. Russia backed out over a provision which would have authorized strikes if the latest diplomatic option did not work.

For analysis of the tangled negotiations, VOR’s Rob Sachs spoke with Musa al-Gharbi, a research fellow with the Southwest Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts, based at the University of Arizona. Al-Gharbi has just written an article titled "‘Flooding the Zone’ with BS on Syria" for the website counterpunch.org.